Sumanta (Monty) Kumar Pal, M.D., received the Distinguished Alumnus Award for the College of Natural and Social Sciences at the 2018 Alumni Awards gala. The event, held at the Golden Eagle Ballroom on October 12, honored 11 distinguished alumni including MGA Entertainment CEO, Issac Larian as Alumnus of the Year.
Dr. Pal enrolled in the college at the age of 13 through the university’s Early Entrance Program. He graduated at the age of 17 with a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1999 before earning his medical degree at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is an internationally recognized leader in the area of genitourinary cancers, including kidney, bladder, and prostate cancer. He is currently the co-director of City of Hope’s Kidney Cancer Program and is the head of the kidney and bladder cancer disease team at the institution.
During his acceptance speech, Dr. Pal, thanked the University for providing warmth and stability while he grieved the loss of his father as an incoming freshman student. He also credited the university’s outstanding professors including Dr. Kevin Baaske, for his early success. He noted that the affordability of the university coupled with its rigorous academic syllabus paved the way for his career achievements. President William Covino and Dean Pamela Scott-Johnson presented Dr. Pal with the award.
Dr. Pal was a member of the General Education Honors Program (now the Honors College). Through annual donations, Dr. Pal and his wife, Reena Pal, established an endowed scholarship in his father’s name, The Prabir K. Pal Endowed Scholarship, to provide financial support to Honors students enrolled in the Early Entrance Program.
To date, Dr. Pal has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles that have been featured in prominent journals including The Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Oncology, Cancer Cell, and European Urology.